PLUTO

PLUTO
The name conjures up a lot
Dopey Disney dog extra to the plot
Forgotten one-time planet of the night
Not a Jupiter giant, gassy bright,
I’m just a small rocky ball
Nowhere near the sun at all
Cold enough to freeze the nose
Off Santa’s Rudolph as he glows
No regular orbit, just a path
Criss crossing others in a swath
So big around the sun
You’ll all be dead and gone
Before you see half my fly-by.
I can’t even be seen by
Anyone lacking a Hubblescope
But having only binoculars and hope;
And now demoted
No matter how long I’ve floated
In space. There are new planetessimals
Of sizes measured in decimals:
It’s like suddenly finding my father
Always had dozens of other sons, my brothers,
And my family status is reduced
By factors newly deduced
I feel unwanted, unrespected,
It’s not at all what I expected
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NOTE A glance at your bedside astronomy almanac will show that
Pluto is no longer counted as “the ninth planet”. A large number
of similar lumps of rock are now known beyond Pluto.